Michael O'Keeffe wrote an article in today's New York Daily News about the Gretzky T206 Wagner being sold once again. Interesting tidbit at the end.

"The Gretzky T206 Wagner gave Mastro the money and reknown to found Mastro Auctions, sports memorabilia's largest auction house. The company is now the target of an FBI investigation focusing on shill bidding, card doctoring and other allegations of fraud. Federal investigators crashed the hobby's nation convention in Chicago this summer and issued subpoenas to dealers and auction house executives.

An industry source, meanwhile, told the Daily News this week that a large number of Mastro employees, including key executive Brian Marren, the vice president of acquisitions, have recently left the company. Marren did not return a call for comment."

The article can be found here. The entire piece is below the link
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2008/09/06/2008-09-06_honus_wagner_card_gets_new_owner.html

Honus Wagner card gets new owner

BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Saturday, September 6th 2008, 5:18 PM

The rare 1909 T206 Honus Wagner once owned by NHL legend Wayne Gretzky is the most famous, expensive and controversial baseball card in the world, and in the past year it has also been the most mysterious.

When the card sold for a record $2.8 million in a private sale in September 2007, only handful of hobby insiders knew the identity of the collector who purchased the card - and they guarded that information like it was a national security secret.

Until now, that is: A sports collectibles industry source familiar with last year's transaction has told the Daily News that Arizona Diamondbacks managing general partner E.G. "Ken" Kendrick, a veteran collector, is the latest owner of the Holy Grail of baseball cards. The card could wind up on display at a sports museum the Diamondbacks' brass hopes to open at Chase Field sometime in the next few years.

Kendrick would not confirm or deny ownership of the Gretzky T206 Wagner during a recent telephone interview. In fact, he would not discuss it at all. "I'm not going to comment on that," he said.

Kendrick's position is a break from previous owners of the Gretzky T206 Wagner, who spent mighty sums of money on the card because they wanted the publicity it generated.

Former Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall, who bought the card with Gretzky, acquired it to show it off to his friends in show business and sports. Wal-Mart used it as the basis of an advertising campaign. Chicago collector Michael Gidwitz bought the valuable T206 because he wanted to be known as the first collector to sell a card for more than $1 million. Las Vegas businessman Brian Seigel, who bought the card from Gidwitz for $1.265 million in 2000, planned to display it at ballparks around the country.

But the identity of the card's owner has been a secret ever since Seigel sold it in early 2007 to SCP Auctions and an anonymous Southern California collector for $2.35 million, just before the release of "The Card," a book by two Daily News reporters. The book examines persistent rumors that the the Gretzky T206 Wagner was cut from a sheet long after it left the factory - a major taboo in the world of vintage cards - and later trimmed to enhance its value.

The book quotes Bill Hughes, a member of the grading service team that issued the card's high grade - Professional Sports Authenticator gave it a PSA 8 on a scale of 1-10 - as admitting he knew the card had been cut from a sheet when he graded it.

"The card is so outstanding, it would have been sacrilegious to call that card trimmed and completely devalue it," Hughes explained.

In June 2007, moreover, the Daily News published photographs that experts say prove the card was trimmed to improve its condition.

But in the rarified air of high-end vintage cards, none of that seems to matter. The anonymous Southern California collector who purchased the card from Seigel sold it a year ago to Kendrick for $2.8 million, the top price for a trading card.

Kendrick told the Daily News he has been collecting baseball cards since the 1950s, when he was a boy growing up in West Virginia. "I had one of those great moms who saved my cards for me," Kendrick said.

The Diamondbacks are planning to open a museum at their ballpark, perhaps as early as the 2009 season that would display club memorabilia, and items borrowed from the Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as cards from Kendrick's collection, he said.

The Gretzky T206 Wagner was "discovered" by veteran memorabilia dealer Bill Mastro, who bought it for $25,000 in from a Long Island collector named Alan Ray and a few years later sold it to sporting goods magnate Jim Copeland for $110,000. Mastro played a role almost every time the card was sold, either as a buyer, seller, auctioneer or consultant. He has repeatedly denied altering the card.

The Gretzky T206 Wagner gave Mastro the money and reknown to found Mastro Auctions, sports memorabilia's largest auction house. The company is now the target of an FBI investigation focusing on shill bidding, card doctoring and other allegations of fraud. Federal investigators crashed the hobby's nation convention in Chicago this summer and issued subpoenas to dealers and auction house executives.

An industry source, meanwhile, told the Daily News this week that a large number of Mastro employees, including key executive Brian Marren, the vice president of acquisitions, have recently left the company. Marren did not return a call for comment.

corsairs22

09-07-2008, 12:51 PM

Wow, Brian is gone. Anyone have any follow up info?

yanks12025

09-07-2008, 01:04 PM

I think its bad that the FBI is going after Mastro but they dont do anything about Coachs Corner auction which just sell fake items every month.

thedegu

09-07-2008, 01:24 PM

They need to take a hard look at all of 'em, not just the Coach and not just Mastro...the rot is pretty much everywhere in the hobby these days, only in different forms.

I do wish they'd nail CCSA first, but there seems to be a good deal of potential dirt on Mastro as well (i.e. spooning, the Wagner pseudo-8 and their often-questionable relationship with PSA), so I ain't gonna complain. At least somebody's finally doing something, even if it's not going as far as I'd wish.

My opinion, if nobody likes it, I don't give a hoot.

David

09-07-2008, 01:35 PM

Employee changes in and of itself indicates little. In their auction catalogs, Mastro always lists their employees. Anyone who looks back through their catalogs will see regular changes since years back.

corsairs22

09-07-2008, 01:47 PM

Righto, Brian Marren's departure doesn't say anything about any scandals. But I wondered if anyone had heard any more about it, since he has been the man to talk to regarding consignments. I should say that in my experience he offered the most sober and accurate guesses about what a particular item would sell for if auctioned.

David

09-07-2008, 02:58 PM

For a current auction, when someone asks me what I think an item will go for, I say "Ask me when the auction is finished." I know that if I guess during the auction, the guess will only serve to show how dumb I am. I suspect that many appraisals and pre-auction appraisals are no more accurate my guesses.

corsairs22

09-07-2008, 03:31 PM

David,
Ok. My point is that Marren's estimates of a sale price turned out to be fairly close to the actual sale price, which was not the case with other people at other auction houses. Yes, he was guessing, but he did not make wildly unrealistic guesses in order to get me to consign with Mastro, as have some others at other auctions. Other than saying that he dealt fairly with me, I'm not making any grand claim about anything. Hope all is well. Mark

David

09-07-2008, 03:51 PM

I get your point. I have heard of complaints of potential consignors being given overinflated estimates to get business-- don't know which auction houses these complaints were against.

On the flip, I've heard people complain that REA's catalog estimates are too low.

David

09-07-2008, 03:56 PM

A funny was when a non-collecting friend was looking through my 1999 Barry Halper catalog, vocally marveling at the astoundingly high prices. I informed him he was looking at the minimum bids and handed him the list of realized prices.

trsent

09-08-2008, 12:17 AM

I get your point. I have heard of complaints of potential consignors being given overinflated estimates to get business-- don't know which auction houses these complaints were against.

On the flip, I've heard people complain that REA's catalog estimates are too low.

Funny you should say that, I found the same thing. I look at REA's estimated values and I wonder what their philosophy is. I figure a low estimate can often kill the final value of an item.

rose14

09-08-2008, 08:52 AM

Funny you should say that, I found the same thing. I look at REA's estimated values and I wonder what their philosophy is. I figure a low estimate can often kill the final value of an item.

I see it the other way. They don't want to put out high expectations with inflated pre-auction estimates. Some bidders see a lower estimate and think they might have a chance at an item and make bids even though it eventually sells for much more than the initial estimate. It also is good PR for them as it shows that their items bring in much more than their pre-auction estimates.

David

09-08-2008, 12:43 PM

Theories I've heard are the same as yours, in that they can trumpet how much lots beat pre-auction estimates. REA gets strong prices, so consignors shouldn't worry whatever the theory. Few sports auctions have pre-auction estimates anyway.